Monday, September 23, 2013

Kenyan Bloodbath: Reaping the "Benefits" of US AFRICOM Collaboration

By Tony Cartalucci

At face value, and how the Western media is attempting to portray it, the Westgate Mall siege in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi appears to be yet another senseless terrorist attack by the "religious fanatics" of Al Qaeda's Somalia franchise, Al Shabaab. Already, both Kenyan and Western politicians, as well as editorials across the Western media, are attempting to use the attack as a pretext to launch a military campaign against neighboring Somalia, while fueling anti-Muslim sentiment across profoundly ignorant audiences in the West.

As on 9/11, terrorists are waging a war on our modern, democratic way of life. Today, we are all Kenyans.

The op-ed continues by stating:

Just as important: The fight is not just a Kenyan, or African, fight. Somalia could be the new Afghanistan. A lawless, fundamentalist Somalia could incubate a Somali Osama bin Laden and new attacks on the USA, just as Afghanistan protected and nurtured bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

And:

After the Nairobi attack, the message should be "We Are All Kenyans." Not just in our sympathy. But also in going all out to prevent another terrorist attack.

Leaving Somalia to al-Shabab is not an option.

Kenya: Proxy for US Aggression in Africa

What the USA Today op-ed fails to mention, even as it alludes to impending military intervention in Somalia, is that Kenya has already participated in military operations against its northern neighbor, including a full-scale military invasion complete with US and French military support in 2011. In the UK Independent's October 2011 article, "Somali invasion backed by West, says Kenya," it was reported that:

Kenya has confirmed that Western allies have joined its war on Islamic militants al-Shabaab despite denials from the US and France that they are involved in fighting in southern Somalia. Foreign military forces have carried out air strikes and a naval bombardment close to the militant stronghold of Kismayo, a Kenyan army spokesman said yesterday.

“There are certainly other actors in this theatre carrying out other attacks,” said Kenya's Major Emmanuel Chirchir.

The Kenyan invasion has already caused a major rift between Somalia's interim prime minister and president, who yesterday condemned the presence of foreign troops inside his country.

The US military, which has a base in neighbouring Djibouti, has previously carried out drone strikes in Somalia.

It has also launched air strikes against alleged al-Qaeda militants in the country.

Before using Kenya as a proxy for US aggression in Africa, and amidst two decades of unilateral, covert military operations, the US had backed two Ethiopian invasions into Somalia. The first US-backed invasion, under then US President George Bush, was carried out in 2006. USA Today reported in its 2007 article, "U.S. support key to Ethiopia's invasion," that:

The United States has quietly poured weapons and military advisers into Ethiopia, whose recent invasion of Somalia opened a new front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

The second US-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, under US President Barack Obama, was carried out in 2011 - coordinated with Kenya's 2011 US-French-backed extraterritorial adventure into Somali territory. The UK Independent's December 2011 article, "UN-backed invasion of Somalia spirals into chaos," reported that:

Kenya's invasion of Somalia, hailed by the West and the UN Security Council, was meant to deliver a knockout blow to the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab. Instead it has pulled Somalia's regional rival Ethiopia back into the country, stirred up the warlords and rekindled popular support for fundamentalists whose willingness to let Somalis starve rather than receive foreign aid had left them widely hated.

It was in fact this US-backed military invasion that served as the alleged motivation of the Al Shabaab terrorists who attacked Kenya's Westgate Mall this week.

The Same Terrorists the US is Arming in Syria are Killing Civilians in Kenya